German packaging law, explained in plain English for shops that ship into Germany from abroad and pack their own orders. No jargon, no scare tactics, and I'll tell you when something doesn't apply to you.
For four years you paid for the recycling of Amazon’s own boxes. That rule was deleted. What Amazon now covers, what is still unambiguously yours, and why deleting your figures without a note is the wrong move.
Read it →Printify, Printful and Gelato license the parcels they send and hand you their LUCID number. It covers their parcels and nothing else — and the second provider is where almost everyone slips.
Read it →A cease-and-desist letter about packaging isn’t a fine and isn’t from the authorities. What’s in the envelope, why the enclosed declaration matters far more than the invoice, and what to do in the first week.
Read it →Register, appoint, license — and only one of the three is new. What it costs to put right, what happens to the earlier years, and why your listings can be switched off without a warning.
Read it →Sellers are being quoted for notarisation, apostilles and certified translations. For the German appointment none of that is part of the requirement — here's what is, and five things to ask before you pay.
Read it →There's something real behind that headline — but it's a proposal, it hasn't been adopted, and it was never written to cover sellers outside the EU. What applies today, and what's still being argued about in Brussels.
Read it →Three separate costs, and for small shops it's the minimum charge that decides the bill — not the per-kilo rate. Worked examples for shops sending 60, 800 and 2,000 parcels a year.
Read it →Box, filler, tape and label count. The product doesn't. How to weigh one typical parcel in ten minutes and be done with it for years.
Read it →Being inside the EU doesn't exempt you, and your national licensing doesn't carry over. What applies from France, Italy, Spain, Poland or the Netherlands.
Read it →Not a scam, and not new: marketplaces have had to check since 2022. What the request means, how to get a number today, and the order to do things in so your listings come back.
Read it →Free, ten minutes, and you have to do it yourself — the law reserves this step for you personally. Step by step in English, with the German field names you'll see on screen.
Read it →“Why am I suddenly paying for this?” You aren't — the obligation has applied for years, and marketplaces have been checking since 2022. What changed on 12 August is who carries the duty, and that sellers abroad now need a representative in Germany.
Read it →What you report, to whom, and when. Two numbers, twice a year, and estimates are how it's meant to work. The audited part only starts at 50 tonnes of cardboard — a quarter of a million parcels. You're nowhere near it.
Read it →Who it applies to, what counts as packaging, the four things that have to happen, why you have to register yourself, and what it costs. The whole picture in one place.
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